Editor's Note: The following is excerpted from a speech that former LaRouche aide Herb Quinde gave at an International Caucus of Labor Committees (ICLC) conference in Virginia three years (and at least 20 deaths) after his participation in the founding of the Spanish government's GAL (Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups) death squads that operated in southern France and northern Spain between 1983 and 1987. Quinde's speech was printed in the Jan. 27, 1986 issue of LaRouche's New Solidarity under the title "The Cancer of Pluralism."
In the excerpt below Quinde tries to wrap LaRouche's fascist political philosophy in the mantle of the pope but inevitably ends up presenting a grotesque distortion of the pope's message. (For instance, Quinde's statement that we can "only answer to one authority--Reason" is most decidedly not Catholic. And the papal statement about "pluriformity" refers to the life of the church, and not, as Quinde would have it, to secular politics or the internal life of totalitarian groups such as the LaRouche cult.)
Quinde's bitter hatred of political pluralism and democracy, as expressed in this speech, may shed light on why he was so eager to pander to the Franco-Mussolini-Hitler nostalgists in European mercenary circles and the Spanish security forces (the two pools from which the GAL killers were recruited). And anyone inclined to make excuses for Quinde's role in encouraging the death squads should read what the BBC reported about a GAL kidnap plot dubbed "Operation Mengele" (in honor of the infamous Dr. Joseph Mengele who performed medical experiments on Jews during World War Two).
QUINDE SPEAKS: "[O]ur Western culture has been Easternized. It is not just our music, art, or TV programs, but also our religious institutions and political debates that are premised on the theology of Gnosticism. In the U.S., the cancer of pluralism goes by many different names. The Rand Corporation calls it consensus politics or, more simply, 'the process of democracy.' Our philosophical organization [he means the ICLC, LaRouche's political cadre organization--DK] is often accused, in the dingy backrooms of Washington, D.C., of refusing to participate in 'the process of democracy.' In other words, we refuse to bend to the insane mystical perceptions of popular opinion. Dante clarifies the question of universal authority in 'De Monarchia.' He states that there are, luckily, two authorities to whom one can appeal: Emperor and Pope. As we look at our political leaders and institutions like our Congress, it is obvious that the Emperor wears no clothes. We are fortunate to have the Pope institutionally reassert the foundation of 'definitive reason' at this eleventh hour.
"As individuals made in the image and likeness of God, we can only answer to one Authority--that is, Reason. To quote the Synod's final document applicable to our immediate tasks, we should remember that 'pluriformity must be distinguished from pluralism. When pluriformity is a true richness and bears plenitude, this is true catholicity. Instead, the pluralism of fundamentally opposed positions leads to dissolution, destruction, and loss of identity.'
"In summary, I think it may be time to start burning witches again."